Chinese told to bring back the bike lane – Richard Spencer

Chinese cities have been ordered to put back their cycle lanes in the hope of restoring the nation’s image as the land of the bicycle.

The picture of Chinese cities as a seething tide of grey-clad cyclists, perpetuated until very recently in western advertisements, has long since given way to one of ring roads packed with traffic.

“Some Chinese cities are cutting back on bicycle lanes to make more room for cars, just as some western cities are beginning to build more of them,” the unusually environment-conscious vice-minister of construction, Qiu Baoxing, told a planning conference yesterday. [Full Text]